Which Zodiac Sign Fits Your Character Best? (Plus, A New Worksheet!)

Last year, a Twitter pal asked me if using the personality traits for the zodiac signs was an effective way of developing characters. I didn’t say “no” outright; each writer has a unique method of creating characters that works for them. The only advice I gave her was to ensure that, whatever method she used, her characters were well-rounded and realistic.

Yet her question reminded me of something very important: I had never figured out my characters’ birthdays. (*blushes*) The only reasons why are that I had been so focused on other aspects of their personality, backstory, etc., and that I didn’t plan on having birthdays coincide with events in my WIP. But it got me thinking:

“Which zodiac signs fit my WIP’s characters best? Do their personalities fit any of the signs at all? And if they do, could I determine my characters’ birthdays that way?”

The short answer, thanks to researching and experimenting over the past few months? Yes. 🙂 But before I explain how we can work backwards to do this, it’s time to unveil…

The Zodiac Signs & Character Traits Worksheets

Starting today, the Zodiac Signs & Character Traits Worksheets areavailable for download at the Worksheet for Writers page. This “package” contains the following items:

Worksheet A: “Which Zodiac Sign Fits Your Character Best?” – The Activities, using the content and questions from this post in a worksheet format.

Worksheet B: The Zodiac Signs & Character Traits Chart, which lists the twelve zodiac signs (Aries, Taurus, Gemini, etc.), their calendar date ranges, and 20+ personality traits that are commonly associated with each sign. You can refer to this chart while working on the activities in this post and in Worksheet A.

How To Determine Your Character’s Zodiac Sign Using Their Personality Traits (a.k.a. How to Use the Chart)

Actually, there are two ways you can use the Zodiac Signs & Character Traits Chart! Let’s start with…

Activity #1: Instant Recognition

Using the Chart, review each sign’s set of traits and see if any immediately remind you of your characters. Is your protagonist enthusiastic, driven, and a bit headstrong? Perhaps he’s a Leo. What about his gentle, imaginative, and sensitive love interest? Piscescould be a good fit for her. Let your intuition guide you based on each character’s individual strengths and flaws.

For example, after I created the Chart, I tested it out on my characters from my YA fantasy WIP, The Keeper’s Curse. One of the first signs to catch my attention was the one for my protagonist, Eva. This girl is very much a Taurus. She’s dependable, practical, loyal to the people she cares about, and persistent when it comes to finishing projects and getting to the bottom of things. She can also be overprotective of loved ones and wickedly stubborn at times. And though Eva’s more of an introvert, her bullish side comes out when she’s angry or upset. As a result, I chose her world’s equivalent of May 1 as her birthday.

Here are two more TKC characters whose zodiac signs I identified right away:

Gidion = Libra (September 28). Gidion is a diplomat by nature, so Libra was an easy choice for him. He’s fair-minded and idealistic, a leader who wants the best for everyone and is always willing to listen to others’ input. He also enjoys being around people and is open to more liberal beliefs (interracial marriage, women in positions of power, etc.) than most Fei are.

Keli = Gemini (June 2). The Council’s chief spy has a Gemini’s “split” personality. When he’s on assignment, his cleverness, adaptability, and sense of adventure come in handy. But when he’s off-duty, he easily switches to his playful, restless, witty other self – a side he sometimes fails to turn “off” at the right time.

Activity #2: Compare & Count

Not all of your characters’ zodiac signs will instantly recognizable. In these instances, you can compare a character’s traits to each individual sign. It’s a little more involved than Activity #1, but it works just as well. You may want to have a blank sheet of paper handy for this exercise, too.

Here are the steps for Compare & Count:

Choose one of your characters, and list her positive and negative attributes. If you already have this information in a character profile, have a copy ready for Step #2.

Compare your character’s traits to one of the columns in the Zodiac Signs & Character Traits Chart, and write down the number of common traits.

Repeat Step #2 for each zodiac sign column in the Chart.

Determine which zodiac sign has the highest number of common traits. This sign is most likely the best fit for your character. Feel free to read an online profile of this sign before you decide. (Links to zodiac websites are available at the end of this post.)

If two zodiac signs have the same number of common traits, read an online profile of each sign before deciding which one is the more accurate match.

If two neighboring signs (Aries and Taurus, Gemini and Cancer, etc.) have the same number or close of common traits, it’s likely that your character was born on the cusp of two signs. Learn more about cusp signs here.

I used Compare & Count for quite a few TKC characters, including Aurek Kolsteg. His
closest zodiac fit turned out to be Cancer. In a way this surprised me, since he’s a soldier and co-leader of his clan. However, his protectiveness of friends and family, generosity, supportive of others’ passions, and preference for compassion over cruelty are all Cancerian traits. So are his strong work ethic, insecurity (specifically as a leader), and desire for privacy. And since he doesn’t share many Gemini or Leo traits, it made sense to pick a birthday in the true range of his Cancer sign (July 8).

Let me give you two more instances of Compare & Count with TKC’s characters:

Vandar = Leo-Virgo Cusp (August 25). I originally thought Vandar, who’s the Council’s military strategist, would be a Leo because of his “natural-born leader” personality. Yes, he’s confident, honest, and reluctant to compromise. But he’s also quiet, logical, hardworking, and critical of others – all Virgo qualities. He ended up having an equal number of traits for both signs, so I chose a birthday early in the Virgo range, since he’s more of an introvert.

Doni = Virgo-Libra Cusp (September 21). Doni’s sign was nearly impossible to pin down via Instant Recognition. But when I used Compare & Count, his best zodiac fit was clear. Like a Virgo, he’s diligent, kind, nurturing, and constantly putting others’ needs ahead of his own. And like a Libra, he’s a “people person” with a deep sense of fairness, respect, and social responsibility. All of this makes sense, since Doni is the Council’s chief healer.

There’s No Such Thing as a Perfect Fit

No one is a 100% match with their zodiac sign. I see several aspects of my Virgo sign in me (detail-oriented, responsible, shy, worrywart), but not others. (Example: I don’t like to judge others, and I try to limit my perfectionism to myself!) You might think the same way about you and your astrological sign.

Remember this as you do the above exercises with your characters. You’re not looking for the “perfect” fit – you’re looking for the closest fit, the most appropriate or reflective sign that will help you pin down a logical birthday for that character. So, give these worksheets and activities a try. You might be surprised with what you discover.

Here are the sites I researched for creating the Zodiac Signs & Character Traits Chart. Check them out if you want more information about various signs or for verifying your character’s signs after finishing each exercise.

Do you know your character’s birthday and/or zodiac sign? If not, what are your results after trying these exercises and worksheets? Also, what is your astrological sign, and how closely does it match your personality?

NOTE: A larger version of the banner’s original image appears here. The Taurus, Cancer, and Virgo sign images can be found at Astrology-Zodiac-Signs.com.

Awesome article! I Always make my character’s astrological makeup. I’m a big fan of it, though I’ve discovered that if I do the whole nine with making their chart, it kind of breaks the writing for me. As in, it feels too restrictive as I’m trying to stick too close to their astrology rather than letting them be natural and themselves. When it comes to characters, like plot, I like to keep the loose ends open.

The important thing to remember about astrology though is that there are a lot of factors that go into someone’s behavior, and rules are meant to be broken (; Using astrology is a good compass to use in keeping a character consistent .

I’m a Libra and I relate myself much more with my Moon than my Sun sign. It’s interesting that your characters are both air signs! Do they get along?

I’ve been a lifelong observer of people and their astrology.If you ever want to discuss astrology, I am totally game! And I had a feeling you were an earth sign! You have the friendly easy going nature of one (minus a Capricorn o.o they’re more reserved than Taurus’ and Virgos).

PS. Another great astrology site is cafe astrology … Not sure if there’s a dash in there or not, but that site is my general goto if I have questions. Gear resources though, I’m going to check them out!

Thanks, Jessica! 😀 I’m glad you enjoyed it so much. Even though the idea fascinated me, I wasn’t sure how many readers would also find it interesting – but I’m pleased with the response so far.

I agree with your point about creating characters as how you envision them first and foremost. That’s what I did with the TKC characters (and am still doing now); personality / strengths/ flaws / etc. first, then more minor details like MBTI personality type (which I’m also sort of obsessed with) and zodiac sign / birthday.

I had no idea what my moon sign was until I figured it out via two different sites. *blushes* Turns out it’s Capricorn, which… doesn’t really fit me. I definitely relate more to my sun sign than my moon sign, I guess. *lol*

“It’s interesting that your characters are both air signs! Do they get along?”

Do you mean Aurek and Eva? Not at first – but that’s mostly Eva’s fault, because he’s a Mountain Man, and she hates all Mountain Folk. :s But they get to know each other better as the story goes on, and Eva in particular learns a lot from the relationship she develops with him.

That’s the thing with astrology though — there are so many factors that play a part, that at times I think I’ve kind of screwed myself because I have to go the whole nine with the chart. It’s better to just take the surface details and let the character create themselves.

Another fun aspect about zodiac is looking up sign compatibility! It’s an interesting gauge as to seeing how all the character might react to each other.

Hm, I would have never guessed Capricorn! But then again, the moon is something more internal, how you approach your emotions… or should I say, how your emotions approach you!

I know I’m an INTJ, but I haven’t gotten in depth with the MB personality types. But I do know that I definitely saw a lot of similarities with the INTJ type and myself. I love all the personality analysis tests. Chinese zodiac is also fun, too. But now we’re just opening a whole can of worms here!

“It’s better to just take the surface details and let the character create themselves.”

*nods her head in agreement*

I did check Eva and Aurek’s sign compatibility (because, well, um, to not give anything away… but yeah *lol*), and they actually matched up pretty well. So I was pleased to see what I envisioned also aligns with the stars in a way.

I never would have guessed Capricorn, either. And my brother is a Capricorn, so I know what they’re like… and… I have no idea. XD :S

I’m an ISFJ; and while I match up pretty well with its description, certain experiences in the past couple years have also taught me to use my weaker Thinking and Intuiting functions more. (And even Perceiving, if that’s possible.) And now that I’m aware of all this, it’s only fueled my fascination with MBTI further.

What I found most interesting about the MB types is that they can transition over time. I perused one of my old blogs back from high school and was surprised to find that I was an ISFJ back then… you may be transitioning, too!

Lol yes I’m sure we can go on forever about psychology and types! Have you ever looked into graphology? It’s a little more subtle sort of personality observation, but can be quite telling!

fyi, my hubby’s a Gemini, so I think I can fathom what could possibly happen! :3

It’s the science of analyzing handwriting! It’s very enlightening, if even that it’s your own handwriting that you’re looking at. My handwriting had definitely changed over the years, which is a reflection of how I’ve grown and changed over the years as well. Check it out if/when you have the free time!

Interesting point — I don’t know the birthdays of the characters in my current WIP, either. (And since the novel takes place over the January-May stretch of a single spring semester, there’s a good chance one of their birthdays might take place during that time!)

I’ve never been a fan of astrology, but perhaps I’ll have a look at the descriptions and then give my characters star signs that are as ill-matched to them as my own is to me. (I think there’s *one* trait I share with it…)

This is such a cool idea! I don’t know why I didn’t think of this. XD Bryce is a Capricorn and Matt is a Virgo and their star signs fit them pretty well. I’m an Aries which I’m on and off with. I’m passionate, efficient, and determined, but some of the extrovert features don’t match me. I’ve also seen them pegged as creative in some descriptions.

I’ve seen that for Aries, too. Sometimes the neighboring signs (Pisces or Taurus) can influence things if a person is born on the cusp of Aries and one of the other signs. (When is your birthday, btw?) There are also moon signs and other factors – but I’m no expert on astrology, so I don’t go much deeper than one layer of signs. Like I said, most people aren’t perfect matches to their signs, but they’re usually close.

I used to have a real passion for astrology, but it’s been a long time since I thought about it seriously. And then last week I bought a book about the zodiac signs and birthdays and now this post… I think it’s a sign of something… I just don’t know what yet 😉
Thanks for a great post 😀

Interesting :). And no, I haven’t figured out my characters’ Zodiac signs either. But my excuse is that they live in the fantasy world so there are no Zodiac signs.
I like the idea of using the signs as a help to develop characters, though I’d wonder if it’s not too much of a risk to create quite stereotypical characters rather than complex ones. As you said, not all the people have all the traits they’re supposed to have. I’m Pisces and I’ve met Pisces that were very different from me, and we hardly shared one or two traits.

*lol* Zodiac signs don’t exist in my story world, either. I did this mostly out of curiosity, to see if I could come up with a “system” for choosing meaningful birthdays for my characters. In other words, it’s me being very, VERY geeky. 😉

And like I said in the post, both exercises are more or less working backwards to find a character’s zodiac sign after you’ve already figured out what that character is like. When I create my characters, I always start with the “vision” I see for them, then flesh it out further with backstory, motivations, etc. Birthdays and zodiac signs come much later, and mostly as a curiosity. None of my characters are perfect fits for their signs, just like you and I are not perfect matches with our own. And that’s OK. It’s more important that our characters are realistic. Again, it’s me sharing a teeny part of my writing process, and hoping that this tool might be useful to other writers as well.

I’d say you’re doing it right. I’m wary, because I’ve seen several writers who think determining Zodiac sign is one of the first things to do and is a great way to create a character… While you simply enhance the ones you’ve already made or see if anything else from the Zodiac puzzle fits. 🙂

As detailed as I usually get about my characters, I rarely seem to think about their birthdays. I have a few who have specific ones (or birthdays are important in the story), but I don’t really think about it. Of course, I don’t really think about my own birthday much either, lol. On the other hand, my childhood fascination with the Chinese Zodiac/New Year never flowed into the Greco-Roman zodiac. (This might be because I looked at the aspects of an Aquarius, turned up my nose, and proclaimed it a terrible fit). After all, dragons and snakes and monkeys were more interesting. So other than the myths BEHIND the Greco-Roman zodiac, I really have little familiarity with it 😛
However, your forms look helpful and fun to fill out, as usual!

I remember you talking about your “disagreement” with your zodiac sign before. 😉 And also how much you love the Chinese zodiac! That would be interesting to see as well, for our characters… but my character profiles are pretty in-depth as they are now. *lol*

But hey, if you try the chart and activities anyways, let me know what you think of them. I’d be interested in hearing other people’s thoughts on how they work.

I have come up with birthdays for many of my characters, but never considered their zodiac signs. When I get some time I should take a look at them and see what they are and if they fit them well at all. 🙂 Mine is Cancer, though like Rebekah said for hers, mine doesn’t fit me completely, and I find dragons and other animals more interesting. 😀

*chuckles* Well, like I said, this project was something that tickled my interest, and I couldn’t ignore it. Not everyone is a believer in zodiac signs, and that’s OK. But let me know if you do end up trying these exercises. 😉

While protagonists are usually a separate and gigantic beast unto themselves that I only look at zodiacs for (when applicable) as one of the last steps, I actually find that it’s quite helpful in the creation of secondary/minor characters. I kind of have two ways that I make minor characters: a) there’s a point in the plot where I need x to happen as catalyst for y and z. X doesn’t fit any of my current characters/for some reason can’t be any of my current characters, so I need a new one to do x; or b) the protagonist(s) enter a new area/school year/job that has a lot of random people and we need some new faces to fill out a crowd and make this place a believable setting.

These minor/secondary characters don’t need to be as indepthly known, they just have to be around and “real” enough to maintain suspension of disbelief. So I have designed a series of RNG/dice-determined physical traits ranging from gender and eye colour and hair colour to things like eyebrow shape and build and hairstyle. Also if there is a splitting factor such as the Hogwarts Houses from Harry Potter, or a clan-based mentality or something such as fishing community vs mountain folk, those are chosen at this point as well. From the values obtained in the 28 (and counting) different RNG-determined traits, I then sketch out what the character looks like and determine basic character traits from that.

For instance, there was one girl who had “bushy” textured hair and “pigtails” for hair style and in the end her hair ended up looking something like the ears on a cocker spaniel. So I made her base personality something rather puppyish: easily energetic, eager to please, needing to be part of things.

From there I take their base personality that I developed from their looks and plug it into things like the zodiac and name-numerology and meaning to help get a more flushed-out view of what sort of person they might be. Then you combine all the information gathered about them, and use that to determine as much as you can about hobbies, habits, dreams, fears, strengths, weaknesses, etc. Anything you can’t think up from your gathered info (or anything you want to be “outside the box” if you feel too many characters are ending up too similar) plug in to more RNG-determined lists (usually these have to be case-specific story-by-story) and fill in a basic character info sheet. Then, when you have all the info together that you need, explain away why the character is the way they are with back story and motivations and everything else.

Returning to the puppy-girl, for instance, she started out as an intended minor character that ended up growing into a secondary character as I flushed her out. Turns out she comes from an abusive home. Her father was a war veteran who, disturbed by the things he saw/did during the war, has turned to alcohol and becomes violently abusive to his wife and at times his daughter in these situations. As such, she, a mere 10-year-old girl having grown up in this place, doesn’t really understand why her father is like this, but knows it’s because he’s upset. So she has gained a worldly view that if she could just make him happy, he’d stop drinking and doing these things to her mother and her. So she tries her very best to be up-beat and make everyone around her happy with hobbies such as comedy skits. She finds shame in the fact that she’s abused and does her best to hide it from the world, adamantly insisting to those that find out that her home is not broken, it’s just a little bent is all. The story she’s in is all about a group of kids at the start of puberty and the sorts of things they face as they transition from child to teenager. Her role transitions from background character and “class clown” in the first book to a good friend of one of the protagonists by the end, starting about half-way through the second book when the protagonist happens to see the hidden evidence of the abuse part way through. It turned into “how would children try to deal with this situation, when the child being abused refuses to report it and denies accusations when it is reported?”

Anyway, the point is, when making background characters, assigning things like zodiac early on can help you to find ways to flesh out your characters a little more. The best thing to remember is to not use this kind of info as a determining guide to say “your character is a __ and therefor must…” but instead just take them as base personality stats that can be expanded on to build up the character. Something of a jumping-off point that helps explain the character away to those who are into astrology, but that the character is still perfectly understandable in motives and reactions without the reader ever finding out their birthday (though I do share that information quite often for those that are interested).

Because in reality, you have a base personality that you are born with, that is shaped and molded throughout your entire life by your experiences and hardships. Personalities are nurtured by environment and culture and religion and so many other factors. And different situations cause people to react in different ways. But you can’t go about creating every aspect of a character involving every moment of their whole lives, so you just have to fall a little into stereotypes and flush out the character from there. The only problem comes along when that’s all there is to the character is 2-3 stereotypes.

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Welcome! I’m Sara Letourneau.

Speculative fiction writer for teens and adults. Columnist at DIY MFA and Writers Helping Writers. Published poet, former tea reviewer and music journalist. Avid reader, tea-holic, and music lover. My heart belongs to the beaches of Cape Cod.

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